Hawaiian Day

Red Ribbon Week is always fun at the girls' schools.  Not pictured this week were Jenna's hat day and sunglasses day.  Heather's school had wear red day and sports jersey day.  All the days have creative titles incorporating the dress up with a say no to drugs theme.  Today was Hawaiian day for Jenna, and she surprised me by wanting to wear this wrap that my friend, Shea, brought back from Hawaii several years ago.  Jenna looked so pretty in it with her hair up and Plumeria bloom.

Twin Day, Soccer & Monster Mash

Twin Day - Jenna and her friend, Rachel, dressed in their Moldy Girl team jerseys for twin day.  They wore their darling green and black ribbon scrunchies from the team, and were able to wear nearly matching jeans and shoes.  It was so awesome that Jenna and Rachel had this experience in soccer together last year.  Jenna put the jersey on in the morning and said, "This makes me feel proud."

Soccer - Speaking of soccer, Jenna had a late afternoon game today.  By the time I got there toward the end of the first period, the other team had scored two goals!  The coach did the smartest thing at the break - she moved Jenna to forward and Megan to defense.  Jenna is the fastest girl on our team and is not afraid to take a shot.  Megan and Jenna have been our strongest defensive players.  Megan has some speed, but her gift is defense, and she has a phenomenal kick (the kind you score with from the half-way mark).  This was Jenna's first time playing forward, and when she got the opportunity to shoot, she took it.  She scored our only two goals and tied the game.    We've not been able to see her do this before because she is nearly always defending.  Kelly and I were hoarse from cheering her on. Of course I have no pictures.  The sun was right in our faces, so I didn't even try.  I took one when we got home just to mark the happy event.  She was so cute after her first goal as she said, "That felt really good."  I knew she'd score a second one.  She's had a taste, and it made her hungry.  Look out world!

Monster Mash - Tonight was our church's Youth Dance for Halloween.  Heather took her friend, Madi, and had a great time seeing all her friends from school and church.  Heather went as "Red" from "Once Upon A Time."  Red is a little more modern and sassy, so that was what Heather went for.  She rocked my boots at about 5'8" tall, and red was her color.  Gorgeous.  She was a little disappointed that none of the boys asked her to dance.  We told her that her beauty was probably very intimidating.  She was happy for the compliment, but still a bit sad.  At 13 she still has time, and those boys will be lining up at her door before we know it.  Yikes!

Emergency Preparedness

It has been a couple of years since I have updated our 72 hour kit.  I knew food was expired and clothes would no longer fit the girls (I actually had nursing undergarments for myself in there--oops!).  We've reached a season where the girls are now old enough to carry their own backpacks, and I took advantage of the nice packs at Costco when school supplies were plentiful so we could convert from our uber large duffle to single packs.  Getting the project going, however, was another story.  It took some discipline, but I finally sat down for a couple of hours on Sunday night and typed out our family emergency plan, pulled important documents to keep in one place, and prepped a shopping list.  This morning, I did the food shopping and had everything laid out for our Family Night.

We changed all the batteries in the smoke detectors and flashlights, showed the girls how to turn off the electricity and gas should they ever be home alone during a quake, showed them how to detach the window screens in their rooms if they ever need to escape during fire, and also how to crawl 18" or lower on the floor in case of fire.  We also reviewed our meeting places in the front and back yard, and talked about how things would go if a quake happened while they were at school, who would pick them up, who was on their emergency cards, etc.  Of course the discussion got to them after awhile, and we talked about why we were preparing and how it helps us live with less fear instead of more when we're prepared.  It was a very productive evening, and we finished it off with a new recipe we tried from the LDS Living FHE lessons, Mint Chocolate Cookies.  Yum!

I listened to the debates while cleaning up the clutter from our project (I'm a little done with political posturing at the moment, quite depressing).  While I was taking something to Heather's room, I found the girls both in Heather's bunk playing a DSi game together.  They are enjoying each other's company more and more, and I've noticed that after a family collaboration, it's more likely to happen.  There's a testimonial for family projects and working together.  

Misty Soccer Saturday

Our weather has finally cooled down a bit.  Yay!  While Heather was at a misty sand volleyball practice, Jenna played in the mist at soccer.  We hadn't been able to attend the soccer photo day because it fell on our Stake Conference Sunday, right during the church meetings, and the team mom didn't let us know when the make-up date was, so we will not have any official soccer photo for this fall.  I decided to take one that looked somewhat official, and we will have a copy of the team photo when it comes.  Jenna went on to do her job as defense for most of the game.  The rest of our day was spent napping and hanging out at home after our bright and early morning start.  Don't ya just love Saturdays?

Warm Wednesday Weather

We're still in the middle of our latest heat wave.  We got a break last week for a few days, but today is a scorcher.  I worked in Jenna's classroom early this morning and then went to do a little shopping at Costco.  By the time I was done around 11AM, I was spent!  The heat seems to make me use twice my energy in a short amount of time.  After trying to cool down, I grabbed some Otter Pops and went to pick up the girls.  They were very happy to see those little frozen treats.  Come on cooler weather, where are ya??

Spooky Disneyland Family Night

We had the opportunity to dash off to Disneyland this afternoon for our Family Night activity.  It was a lot hotter than we expected, and pretty crowded, but we wanted to ride Space Mountain before the end of the month.  The transformation to Ghost Galaxy is super fun and a little creepy.  We got to ride Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad and Haunted Mansion before the park closed at 6PM for the Halloween event.  We were happy to do those three things and get back home for homework and a decent bed time.  Next time we go, it has GOT to be cooler.  I am not equipped for this fall heat wave.

Soccer, Softball and Decorating

Soccer

Jenna had a great game today.  She played center defense for 3 periods, and nothing got by her.  She also played her first time as goalie for this team.  That didn't go so well, but in her 'defense', there were no defenders in the vicinity to help her out.  She still played a phenomenal game, and that's what counts!  We snapped a photo of assistant coach Daddy which we haven't done yet.  She loves having him on the team.

Softball

The soccer game was finished about 3:00PM which was just about the time that Daisy and Grace had a second game starting.  We found them locally at Mile Square park, and I got to visit with Angie while we watched the game.  These girls are awesome, and it's a blast to be getting to see Daisy more often now (and for the mommas to visit too!).

Decorating

After softball, I bit the bullet and cleaned out a bit of the garage so I could get to the Halloween boxes.  I figured it was now or never, and we love our Halloween decor.  My sister got me some new pillows for my birthday; we named them Frank and Julian.  I loved putting the guazy fabric over the mirror and seeing the effect.  It's pretty creepy at night.